Posted by Panos:
No matter what I think of Dolan's INCOMPETENCE, something of which I think he has an astounding amount, I refuse to believe that this guy does not care about winning. It cannot be just about $$. He could have a more profitable team if he didn't go out and spend CRAZY loot on players that don't deserve it and then half the times get bought out. That is not part of a plan to make money. That is just pure, unadulterated incompetence. He could get just as many fans in the seats of MSG without paying Penny, MoT, Jalen, JYD, etc. to not play. Or could have not traded for Zach and let Lee play. There would not be any fewer tickets sold. Furthermore, he could have an even MORE profitable franchise if this team actually WON GAMES.
So while I think he's a complete dolt of an owner, NO, I don't think this is an indifference to winning.
The Knicks represent 3% of the Cablevision empire.
James Dolan was handed the Knicks as "something for little jimmy to do". Nothing more nothing less. The Cablevision empire does not really give a crap if the Knicks stink given they are nothing more than a toy for little jimmy that does not impact the big picture and still makes money anyway. They're not going to do anything about this.
Does James care about winning? If he did why has he run everyone out of town that was committed to winning and put his faith into con artists?
Does he care about the boos? Apparently as he has not shown himself in his usual Garden seat once he realized everything was going down the drain. He'd get destroyed by the fans. It might even be a safety concern at this point.
Does he want Isiah Thomas gone, destroyed, and scapegoated for this disaster that ISIAH did bring upon us? Absolutely.
Will he do it? As soon as he either figures he's reached a point where what's left on his contract is easily chalked up as a necessary loss - OR - finds a way to force Isiah to fight for his money in arbitration citing breach of contract.
The thing is that Dolan is incompetent. He hires losers like Steve Mills who then hires losers like Isiah Thomas who then hires loses like Stephon Marbury.
If Dolan would just get his damn head together, realize that even if he WANTS to be involved he's just not good at it and backs off, FIRES STEVE MILLS and HIRES JERRY COLANGELO to run MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.
Then tell Jerry: "Hey, I tried, I'm an idiot, I screwed up, this is YOUR venture. I hired YOU to fix it. NOW FIX IT."
And stayed out of the way? He'd be hailed as a hero owner by fans and media alike.
Dolan's problem was wanting to be the head honcho and in doing so ran competent individuals such as Checketts and Grunfeld out of the Garden and installing YES MEN in their place.
He needs to realize his mistake, correct it, then just be the smiling owner writing the checks. Does he have the ability to right a wrong? I don't know....but if he's worried about saving face then he's a bigger idiot than I thought.
The best thing for the Garden to do is to admit wrongdoing - they dont even have to actually SAY IT - the actions of firing Mills and Isiah will do the talking for them. Get a competent individual in charge - and let HIM do all the hirings needed to turn this thing around.
If they did that, I as a fan, knowing competence was at the helm, can wait 3-4 years while they tore down the mess and started building for the future. I could have patience with that.
12/11/2007 1:56 PM
